Vaporizing carriers for aroma-therapy such as medicine herbs and flower essences to release active elements and essences is well known in the art. In general, the vaporization process includes directly burning a carrier in a pipe and then inhaling the smoke released from the burnt carrier. Alternatively, for inhaling cooler and filtered smoke, a smoking device having a water reservoir is used to filter the vaporized smoke before inhalation.
Plants have been used for their medicinal properties and aromatherapies for many years. In fact, the majority of medicines used today are either derived directly from plants or synthesized as variations of natural molecules derived therefrom. When vaporized essences and fragrances are inhaled, several benefits are derived including directly applying the active ingredients to the pulmonary tract to treat diseases such as asthma and bronchitis. Drug inhalation also circumvents the “first-pass effect”, which typically occurs when drugs are taken orally and processed by the intestines and then partially or entirely metabolized by the liver before entering the blood stream.
In addition to using plants and flowers for curing diseases, flower essences and fragrances are believed to provide therapeutic qualities as they are thought to work on an emotional level to harmonize negative feelings and belief patterns held in the subconscious mind. On an Australian Bush Flower Essences website, it was reported that the Australian Aborigines and the Ancient Egyptians have always used flowers to heal their emotions. The effect of these essences or fragrances is similar to that of meditation in that they enable the meditating party to access his or her subconscious mind to allow positive virtues such as love, joy, faith, courage, etc. to flood his or her souls.
To date, the only technique available for accomplishing pulmonary application of crude natural drugs has been via the method of smoking. Examples of prior smoking apparatus include U.S. Pat. No. 87,603 to Tichenor, which discloses a device for continuously heating or pyrolizing a substance on a grating, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,858,580 to Collins, which discloses a smoking apparatus that uses steam to vaporize carriers by heating a water chamber with a heating coil. Another example includes U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,301 to Pate, which discloses a vaporizer apparatus for uniformly extracting active ingredients from a specimen without pyrolysis. The '301 patent uses hot air or a heated inert gas stream to vaporize the specimen for inhalation. The heated air or gas is introduced to the device from the device's lower portion (from either a hot air gun or a high pressure tank connected to a heat exchanger) and ascends through a permeable support structure (e.g., fritted glass disk, etc.). The gas causes specimen particles disposed on the permeable support structure to be suspended within the confines of an isolation chamber for inhalation.
FIG. 1a is a prior art vaporizer device 1 manufactured by the inventors of the present invention. Although the prior art vaporizer device 1 was effective and was well received, it had several shortcomings. Among other things, the housing 2 does not have any ventilation other than the top opening. Thus, the prior art housing 2 must be sufficiently large relative to the heating element 3 to ensure sufficient air circulation. This places constraints on the housing size, shape, and configuration. In addition, the heating element 3 was mounted vertical within the housing 2 and with respect to the base. Accordingly, when the vaporizer device 1 is used, the herbs tend to fall out of the vaporizing chamber (not shown) into the heating element 3 where they can ignite.
Another shortcoming of the prior art vaporizer device 1 is the inability to view the heating element while the same is being used. Consequently, it is difficult to discern how much of the control knob 4 to adjust or turn to regulate the amount of heat generated by the heating element 3 during use. Finally, the prior art hand piece 5 (FIGS. 1b1-1b3) used in combination with the prior art vaporizer device 1 similarly suffers from several shortcomings. For example, the inlet end comprises a deep well for receiving the heating element 3. Due to the configuration, a vaporization chamber 7 is not readily accessible. This makes the prior art hand piece 5 both difficult to use (i.e., to pack) and to clean. Furthermore, the design does not allow for an efficient intake air to herb contact, as some of the herbs will dislodge within the end space 8 of the hand piece 5.
Therefore, it would be desirable to develop a vaporizer that efficiently vaporizes carriers for mass transportation of botanical fragrances in the field of aroma-therapy that is also relatively inexpensive and without the shortcomings experienced by the prior art devices.